Tag Archives: lgp symposium

Send your applications in this week for the Emerging Professionals Travel Award! Awards will be given to eligible emerging professionals, including students, to engage a new generation in this important dialogue.

Click here for further information about the Travel Award, including the application. The deadline for applications is thisFriday, January 8, 2016.

Public gardens and cultural institutions are centers of community, science, and art. Today’s society is often overwhelmed with debates in all of these areas. In a world where misspoken words amplify in a matter of minutes, how can institutions tactfully open discussion on today’s difficult topics? When and where do they provide research, resources, and opportunities to interact with new or contested ideas?

The 2016 Longwood Graduate Program Symposium, Daring Dialogue, will navigate the questions and higher callings of cultural institutions. Discover how we are prepared to address challenging issues such as environmental action, civic responsibility, and the evolution of public gardens as community assets.

With the deadline for registration coming up on the 8th of March we hope you have already registered for this year’s Longwood Graduate Program Annual Symposium. This year the Symposium aims to encourage public gardens and cultural institutions to examine how they can stay relevant within the ever-changing social landscape.

Speaker Highlight: Louise Chawla

Louise Chawla

One exciting relatively new field of research that can provide public gardens with some innovative answers to this age-old question is conservation psychology. This year we are privileged to have Louise Chawla who will not be only giving a broad introduction to this exciting field but also highlight some of the issues it addresses with practical examples. Louise Chawla is a professor in the Environmental Design Program at the University of Colorado in Boulder, co-editor of the journal Children, Youth and Environments, and associate director of the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Community Engagement. Some of her popular publications include the books In the First Country of Places: Nature, Poetry and Childhood Memory and the edited collection Growing Up in an Urbanizing World.

In addition to her presentation Louise Chawla will conduct an interactive workshop during the Special Sessions that aims to help participants understand the principles involved in designing environmental programs that encourage care for the environment. This session can accommodate a limited amount of participants, so be quick to register to avoid disappointment.

For those of you who can’t make it out to Longwood Gardens there is also the possibility to participate via our webcast. Also, we want you to contribute to the conversation whether you can be there or not on Twitter or TweetChat at #lgpsymp.

The Longwood Graduate Program’s Annual Symposium, Shifting Landscapes: Cultivating Connections with a Broader Community, is a little less than a month away! If you are on the fence about attending, let me paint you a picture…

When you arrive at Longwood Gardens Visitor’s Center, you are greeted by the Graduate Students and Longwood’s friendly staff. Beyond the glass doors, the garden steals your gaze, beckoning you into the crisp early spring morning. This is a special time in the garden. The fresh air invigorates you. Just as you begin admiring the spring bulbs, you catch a glimpse of the magnificent conservatory on the hill.

The scent of orchids intermingled with the aroma of fresh brewed coffee lead you to Longwood’s historic ballroom where your day of cultivating connections begins. You’re surrounded by stunning beauty and thought provoking conversation.

This year’s Symposium boasts fresh perspectives and a delicious menu. A Bistro style lunch will feature a variety of offerings from soups and salads to risotto cakes and vegetable dumplings. Fine meats and savory vegetarian options will leave no guest unsatisfied. Lunch will be held on the elegant Patio of Oranges with lots of opportunity for conversation.

This year’s Symposium will make use of advanced technology forums such as Twitter in addition to recognizable tools like chalk boards to help us creatively answer questions posed by our speakers. The multi-leveled discussion will spark imaginations and generate opportunities for growth in our public gardens. Interacting with on-line viewers in addition to those in attendance, will allow for collaboration between States and Nations!

The Flower Walk at Longwood Gardens

The day will finish with optional behind-the-scenes tours of various aspects of Longwood Gardens in addition to an optional, limited seating session with speaker, Louise Chawla. Finish your day at the Symposium by prolonging your exploration and experience Longwood Gardens: Beyond the Garden Gates.

Please join us on March 15th 2013 for The Longwood Graduate Program’s Annual Symposium. Shifting Landscapes: Cultivating Connections with a Broader Community. To register, click here. See you there!

By now, you’ve hopefully heard about the 2012 Longwood Graduate Symposium, which is quickly approaching. Held on Friday, March 2nd at Longwood Gardens, “The Panda and the Public Garden: Reimagining our Conservation Story” is sure to shed new light on how public gardens (and zoos, aquarium, parks, and museums!) can inspire their audiences to advocate for conservation issues.

Our keynote speaker, Jerry Borin, served as the executive director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for sixteen years. During his tenure, Mr. Borin transformed nearly every aspect of the zoo, galvanized community support for global conservation issues, and cultivated a complete visitor experience. The keynote address will examine how zoos have developed into centers for wildlife conservation through international collaboration, effective messaging, and experiential display.

Dr. Alistair Griffiths will be arriving from the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, to analyze creating a public garden around an environmentalism message. Dr. Griffiths is the Horticultural Science Curator at the Eden Project, and will use the case study of commercializing a critically endangered impatiens to build awareness for conservation of Seychelles flora.

John Gwynne melds plant and animal conservation expertise. Speaking with twenty years of experience with integrated design for conservation messaging at the Bronx Zoo, Mr. Gwynne will examine marketing environmental issues to the typical visitor. He will also explore living museums in the US, and their connections to his international conservation endeavors.

Catherine Hubbard comes to us from the Albuquerque BioPark, which includes a zoo, aquarium, botanic garden, and park. She has over 30 years experience working in both zoos and gardens and will discuss conservation strategies currently employed by American zoo and aquarium facilities.

Kathleen F. Wagner has more than 30 year’s experience, including time at the Philadelphia Zoo and independent consulting with zoos, museums, botanical gardens, interpretive centers, and aquariums throughout the country. She will bring her experience together to show that successful conservation is about great storytelling and helping people connect the dots. Message relevance and effective evaluation techniques will be discussed.

If successful conservation is all about great storytelling, we need to learn how to tell better stories! To help us do that, we invited Sally O’Byrne and Andrew Losowsky. Sally O’Byrne, President of the Delmarva Ornithological Society and board member of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and the Delaware Nature Society, will share the significance of conservation messaging through the art of storytelling. Andrew Losowsky, award winning journalist, playwright, content curator, thinker, and Books Editor of the Huffington Post, will dramatically explain what makes a story compelling.